Bluebridge spokeswoman Wendy Pannett confirmed the Santa Regina missed its early morning sailing from Picton to Wellington and the return Wellington to Picton 8:30am sailing because of the ramp hydraulic problem.
Interislander, which is already a ferry down on the route with its propellerless Aratere laid up on Aotea Quay, has been relying heavily on Bluebridge to pick up excess freight and passengers on the Santa Regina and Straitsman.
Ms Pannett suggested the problem with Santa Regina appeared to involve getting the ramp up off the wharf prior to sailing.
Santa Regina was still at Bluebridge"s Waitohi Wharf berth in Picton at 12pm with engineers endeavouring to hurriedly sort out the problem.
Affected passengers were being accomodated on other Bluebridge or Interislander sailings, Ms Pannett said.
An extra sailing of Bluebridge"s Straitsman was also planned for tonight.
In the meantime, in a rare move, Bluebridge"s Straitsman used Interislander"s Kaitaki berth in Picton to discharge and load passengers and cargo during its turnround this morning.
At 9:45am Interislander"s flagship was still berthed at its Wellington terminal. It was scheduled to sail on its amended schedule at 9am. It finally sailed for Picton at 10am.
Arahura too was 1 hour 45 minutes late getting away from its Wellington berth this morning when it sailed for Picton shortly before 9am.
To rub further salt into the ferry problem wounds, the stricken Aratere"s bow was blown off its Aotea Quay berth last night in a repositioning manoeuvre as it endeavoured to shuffle its way along its Aotea Quay wharf last night.
A tug, which was 100 metres away at the time attending to a cruise ship departure, was hurriedly called in to resolve this problem.
There were just three ferries – Interislander"s Kaitaki and Arahura and Bluebridge"s Straitsman – still in working order on Cook Strait this morning.
More woes for Cook Strait ferries